Screen printing machine



June 14, 1955 K, PRET-r 2,710,577

SCREEN PRINTING MACHINE Filed July 24, 1951 ATTOR/v SCREEN PniN'riNoMACHINE Konrad Preti, Dornbirn, Austria, assigner to the firm Kerag,Kesselschmiede, Apparateund Maschinenbau, Richterswil, Switzerland, acorporation of Switzerland Application July 24, 1951, Serial No. 238,244

Claims priority, application Austria July 25, 195D i2 claims. (ci.10i-124) This invention relates to a screen printing machine forprinting repeat patterns on webs of iiexible textile material.

Known screen printing machines comprise at least one printing stencilwhich is movable vertically toward and from the web of the fabric to beprinted, which is intermittently passed over a flat backing. Areciprocating doctor distributes the color on the stencil and transfersit to the fabric when the same contacts the stencil. To avoid distortionof the fabric it was necessary to paste it on an endless belt of rubberor the like, which is intermittently pulled through the machine. Thisarrangement involves certain irregularities in the application of theadhesive and inevitable inaccuracies in the pattern repeat, withresulting defects in the printed product.

Moreover, a screen printing machine for repeat printing on webs ofiiexible textile material has been suggested, in which a at printingstencil, which is movable without altering its location, is rolled overa stationary, cylindrically curved backing, which holds the fabric to beprinted only by friction contact. Preferably the fabric is stretchedover a cylinder which is held fast during the printing step and can berotated in steps corresponding to a repeat length, and above saidcylinder a nonshiftable, at printing frame is provided, which contactsthe cylinder along a generatrix and which is positively coupled with thedoctor to perform a rocking printing motion which causes it to roll onthe cylinder periphery. This eliminates pasting of the fabric.

The large cylinder necessary in that arrangement, however, prevents theuse of that machine in many cases.

The invention provides a screen printing machine of the type which hasbeen described rst hereinbefore, and differing from the machinedescribed in the second place by the fact that a rotatably mountedcylinder is provided, which together with guide rollers arranged infront of and behind it holds and guides the web of the fabric to beprinted, which is constantly maintained under tension, directlyon itsperiphery only by friction contact, and is positively though detachablycoupled with a at printing stencil, the cylinder, which forms thebacking and oscillates about its axis of rotation, and the printingstencil, which reciprocates in a plane tangential to the cylinder, beingin rolling Contact with each other during the printing stepvandcooperating with a stationary doctor effective at Vthe respective lineof contact of the cylinder with the stencil.

, Since in this machine the printing template no longer exercises arocking motion, the cylinder supporting the material to be printed maybe of much smaller size. Therefore, the material lies more firmly on thecylinder andthe space requirement as well as the expense ofconstructional material for the machine are reduced to a minimum. Theseveral colors of multicolored patterns are printed in succession andafter one repeat has been completed the material is advanced for thenext one like inv most'of the known machines. The novel machine,however, is the first one to perform this exchange of stenice cils andthe printing in a single operation, the printing cycle beginning as theprinting frame is introduced and being completed as the frame isremoved. Thus the machine prints multicolored patterns almost twice asfast as the known machines. During the removal of the printing stencilafter a repeat has been printed the material on the cylinder is turnedtowards the side of the cylinder while still wet. In this position thematerial printed may be subjected to intermediate drying by blowing orradiation after the printing from each stencil, to avoid a running ofcolors even when they are printed one on the other.

An embodiment of the invention is shown in the drawings in thediagrammatical Fig. 1 in a side elevation, and in Fig. 2 in a sectionalview taken along the line A-B of Fig. l.

A horizontal shaft 1 has rotatably mounted on it a cylinder 2 servingfor supporting and guiding the web of material to be printed. The latteris pulled from a supply roll 3 and passes around the guide rollers 4 and5 having between them a loose roller 6 exercising tension on thematerial under the action of the spring 7. The web of tlexible textilematerial further passes in the clockwise sense around a part of theperiphery of the cylinder 2. The angle of contact between the web andthe cylinder must be suicient for the material to be held on saidperiphery by friction contact alone under the action of guide means, tobe described hereinafter. actual amount of the angle of contact depends,of course, on the surface characteristics of the cylinder periphery andthe web, and on the tension exercised on the web. Then the web passesaround a roller 8, which is carried in two straps 8a radially protrudingbeyond the periphery of the cylinder 2 and rigidly connected each to theouter end face of one of two disks 9 and 1t) equal in diameter' with thecylinder 2. These disks 9 and 10, which will'be further discussed laterin this specification, are freely rotatably arranged on the cylindershaft 1 at both ends of the cylinder 2 and can be coupled rigidly thoughdetachably with the cylinder 2. Hence, when the coupling is established,the roller 8 will follow a rotation of the cylinder 2. From this roller8 the web of the printed textile material passes around two guiderollers 11 and 15 and is wound up on the winding roller 16. To precludesmearing of the wet print on the web, the rollers 8, 11, 1S are arrangedto guide the web while contacting it only on the side Which having beenin contact with the periphery of cylinder 2 has not been printed. A rodassembly 12, 13, which comprises a toggle joint, rods 12 articulated tothe disks 9, 10 through the intermediary of the bearing pins of roller8, and rods 13 which are pivotally suspended at the machine frame hasarranged the roller 11 in its hinge points and the roller 15 in itspoints of suspension.

A carrying frame 19 is movably guided above the cylinder 2 in lateralhorizontal slideways 17, 18 of the machine frame. In this carrying framethe frame 20 of the printing stencil, which during the printing step isconstantly in linear contact with the cylinder is unmovably xed bysuitable means known in the art. This stencil is thus movable togetherwith the carrying frame 19 in a horizontal plane which is tangential tothe periphery of the cylinder 2. As shown in Fig. l the top face of oneof the end members of the carrying frame 19 is arranged in a commonplane with the bottom face of the other end member of frame 19. Adjacentto the peripheries of said disks 9 and 10 each of the end members of thecarrying frame 19 has rigidly fixed to it within said common plane oneend of two steel strips 21 and 22 (indicated by dash-and-dot lines inFig. l). The other ends of the steel strips 21 and 22, which extendalongside each The other and in mutually opposite senses around each ofthe disks 9 and 10 so as to cross each other, are aixed at 23 and 24,respectively, to the periphery of the respective disk 9 or 10. By thesesteel strips 21 and 22 the carrying frame 19 and with it the printingstencil frame 20 fixed therein are positively connected to said disks 9and E6 and to the cylinder 2 when the latter is coupled to the disks.

To provide a positive, selectively detachable coupling between the disks9, 10 and the cylinder 2, the end faces of the cylinder have bores 2aand 2b arranged with a regular angular spacing. On the periphery ofcylinder the arcs corresponding to said angular spacing equal a repeatlength of the pattern to be printed. Each of the disks 9 and 10 has abore 9a and 10a, respectively, both of which lie on a common straightline parallel to the axis of the disks. When these bores 9a, lila are inregister with two bores 2a and 2b lying in the saine radial plane, acoupling pin 2c or 2d, respectively, may oe stuck into each of bores 9a,10a. Extending through the registering bores 9a, 2a, and 10a', 2b,respectively, the pins 2c, 2d rigidly couple the cylinder 2 to the disks9 and 10. This coupling can be disengaged easily by pulling the pins 2cand 2d. When the coupling is established and the carrying frame 19 isreciprocated in the direction of the arrow in the guideways 17 and 18,the positive connection of the carrying frame through steel strips 271,22 to the disks 9, 10 will cause the cylinder 2 to perform a rotaryoscillation. As a result the stencil 20 and the cylinder 2 roll oneacross the other entirely without slip. It is thus seen that thecarrying frame 19, in which the stencil frame 20 is unmovably fixed, thesteel strips 21 and 22 fixed to the carrying frame 19, and the disks 9,10 are representative of transmitting means positively connected to saidstencil whereas the coupling pins 2c and 2d are representative ofdisengageable coupling members positively coupling the cylinder to saidtransmitting means to transmit the reciprocating motion of said stencilthrough the intermediary of said transmitting means to said cylinder.main frame of the machine above the line of contact of the cylinder 2with the printing frame 20. This line of contact lies always at the apexof the cylinder.` The doctor, in the manner known, will distribute thecolor applied to the stencil' surface and will transfer the color to thematerial positioned below said printing frame according to the patternas the printing frame is being moved. As a result of the aforedescribed,entirely slipless rolling motion enforcedl by the steel strips, allpoints of the pattern printed on the textile web during the forwardstroke of the stencil towards the doctor 2S will be in perfect registerwith the corresponding points of the stencil during the return strokethereof to an initial` position. Thus misprints are prevented in spiteof the continuous contact of the doctor 25. Owing to the pivotedarrangement of the rollers 8 and 11, uniformly spacedfrom eachotherbythe rod assembly 12, 13, the wet printed textile web is pulledapproximately tangentially from the cylinder 2 so that it cannot curland cause smearing of the colors printed. The unprinted materialentering the machine is held under uniform tension by the tension roller6 which when the supply roll 3 is at a standstill and the cylinder 2 isrotated in the counterclockwise sense will pull up under the action ofthe spring 7 the slack fabric web in the form ofa prolongedloop whichbecomes shorter and finally disappears when the cylinder 2 rotates inthe opposite sense.

When in the case of one-colored patterns one repeat has been printed thecoupling between the disks 9, 10 and the cylinder 2 is disengaged, ashas been described hereinbefore. Then the cylinder and the winding roll16 are advanced in the clockwise sense by one repeat length, i. e.,throughV such anextent that the bores 9a, 10a of the disks 9, 10register with the next following bores 2a, 2bl

of the cylinder 2 in the sense of rotation. Thereafter the The doctor 2Sis fixed to the coupling pins 2c and 2d are introduced again into thebores in register. This type of coupling ensures that in the successiveprinting cycles the repeat lengths to be printed in succession adjoinaccurately, without spacing or overlap.

in the case of multicolored patterns stencils must be provided in anumber which corresponds to the number' of colors to be applied insuccession. These stencils are `successively used for printing, in themanner known, are accommodated in a stencil magazine 26, which isarranged at one end of the machine and can be lifted` and lowered in thesense of the arrows. As has been mentioned hereinbefore the textilematerial is printed with the respective color when the web of materialon the cylinder is contacted by the stencil moved. That contact takesplace in the same plane in which the stencil is moved continuously intoand out of the machine. The heater 27 of known type and arranged at theside of the impression cylinder facing the magazine 26 subjects afterthe return of the stencil used at a time into the magazine the freshlyprinted material to intermediate drying after the printing from eachstencil, either by blowing hot dry air or by radiating heat on thematerial.

The invention is not restricted to the embodiment shown and otherconstructions are possible within its scope as defined by the appendedclaims.

I claim:

l. A screen printing machine for printing repeat patterns on iiexiblestrip material, comprising a rotatably mounted cylinder, plane printingstencil, a track for said printing stencil, said printing stencil beingmovable ai said track in a plane which is tangential to the nhery ofsaid cylinder, mechanism for coupling the cylinder to the printingstencil, said stencil being adapted to rollingly engage said cylinderalong a line of Contact, a stationary doctor adapted to hold saidstencil against said cylinder at said line of contact, a supply rollerfor the material to be printed, a winding roller for material printed, aSet of three guide rollers for guiding the material between said supplyand winding rollers, said set of guide rollers comprising a movable,spring-loaded intermediate tension roller adapted to form a loop ofmaterial to be printed which is laid around the periphery of saidcylinder and to maintain said material under uniform tensionindependently of an oscillatory motion of said cylinder caused by areciprocating motion of said printing stencil when coupled to saidcylinder, a rod assembly comprising a toggle joint and being pivotallysuspended' at one end, a second set of guide rollers mounted on said rodassembly, one roller of said second set being mounted to the other endof said rod assembly and connected to said cylinder for transmittingsaid oscillatory motion of said cylinder to said rod assembly, saidsecond set of guide rollers being adapted to guide the cloth betweensaid cylinder and said winding roller.

2. A screen printing machine for printing repeat patterns on webs ofilexible textile material,V comprising, in combination, a rotatablymounted cylinder, a plane printing stencil, a trackV for said printingstencil, said printing stencil being movable along said track forwardlyand backwardly in a plane which is tangential to the periphery ot saidcylinder and being adapted to rollingly engage the cylinder along a lineof contact, a stationary doctor adapted to hold said stencil againstsaid cylinder at said line of contact, transmitting means positivelyconnected to said stencil, disengageable coupling means positivelycoupling the cylinder to said transmitting means to transmit thereciprocating motion of said stencil through the intermediary of saidtransmitting means to said cylinder, and guide means for guiding saidmaterial to said cylinder to be printed thereon, said guide meanscomprising tension means operatively disconnected from said cylinder andstencil and adapted to constantly exercise tension on said materialindependently of the motion of the cylinder, to hold said material onsaid cylinderbyftic` tion contact.

3. A screen printing machine for printing repeat patterns on webs ofexible textile material, comprising, in combination, a rotatably mountedcylinder, a plane printing stencil, a track for said printing stencil,said printing stencil being movable along said track forwardly andbackwardly in a piane which is tangential to the periphery of saidcylinder and being adapted to rollingly engage the cylinder along a lineof Contact, a stationary doctor adapted to hold said stencil againstsaid cylinder at said line of contact, transmitting means positivelyconnected to said stencil, disengageable coupling means positivelycoupling the cylinder to said transmitting means to transmit thereciprocating motion of Said stencil through the intermediary of saidtransmitting means to said cylinder, tirst guide means for guiding saidmaterial to said cylinder to be printed thereon, said guide meanscomprising tension means operatively disconnected from said cylinder andstencil and adapted to constantly exercise tension on said materialindependently of the motion of the cylinder, and

second guide means arranged to guide said material from said cylinder,both said guide means being arranged relative to the cylinder and toeach other to cause the textile material guided thereby to contact theperiphery of the cylinder over an angle sufficient for the material tobe held on said periphery by friction contact alone under the action ofboth said guide means.

4. A screen printing machine for printing repeatpatterns on webs offlexible textile material, comprising, in combination, a rotatablymounted cylinder, a plane printing stencil, a track for said printingstencil, said printing stencil being movable along said track forwardlyand backwardly in a plane which is tangential to the periphery of saidcylinder and being adapted to rollingly engage the cylinder along a lineof contact, a stationary doctor adapted to hold said stencil againstsaid cylinder at said line of contact, transmitting means positivelyconnected to said stencil, disengageable coupling means positivelycoupling the cylinder to said transmitting means to transmit thereciprocating motion of said stencil through the intermediary of saidtransmitting means to said cylinder, first guide means for guiding saidmaterial to said cylinder to be printed thereon, said guide meanscomprising tension means operatively disconnected from said cylinder andstencil and adapted to constantly exercise tension on said materialindependently of the motion of the cylinder, and second guide meansarranged to guide from said cylinder printed material contacting saidsecond guide means only with the side that has contacted the cylinder,both said guide means being arranged relative to the cylinder and toeach other to cause the textile material guided thereby to contact theperiphery of the cylinder over an angle sufficient for the material tobe held on said periphery by friction contact alone under the action ofboth said guide means.

5. A screen printing machine for printing repeat patterns on webs offlexible textile material, comprising, in combination, a rotatablymounted cylinder, a plane printing stencil, a track for said printingstencil, said printing stencil being movable along said track forwardlyand backwardly in a plane which is tangential to the periphery of saidcylinder, and being adapted to rollingly engage the cylinder along aline of contact, a stationary doctor adapted to hold said stencilagainst said cylinder at said line of contact, transmitting meanspositively connected to said stencil, disengageable coupling meanspositively coupling the cylinder to said transmitting means to transmitthe reciprocating motion of said stencil through the intermediary ofsaid transmitting means to said cylinder, iirst guide means for guidingsaid material to said cylinder to be printed thereon, said guide meanscomprising tension means operatively disconnected from said cylinder andstencil and adapted to constantly exercise tension on said materialindependently of the motion of the cylinder, and second guide meanspositively connected to said transmitting means to receive motion fromsaid transmitting means, and arranged to guide said material from saidcylinder, both said guide means being arranged relative to the cylinderand to each other to cause the textile material guided thereby tocontact the periphery of the cylinder over an angle su'lcient for thematerial to be held on said periphery by friction contact alone underthe action of both said guide means.

6. A screen printing machine for printing repeat patterns on webs offlexible textile material, comprising, in combination, a rotatablymounted cylinder, a plane printing stencil, two disks coaxial `with saidcylinder and rotatably mounted relative thereto at mutually opposite endfaces of the cylinder, disengageable coupling means positively couplingeach of said disks to the cylinder, a carrying frame having rigidlyaffixed thereto and carrying said stencil, rails for laterally guidingsaid carrying frame, said frame being longitudinally movable along saidrails, two tension-resistant exible strips fixed with one end to each ofsaid disks and lying in mutually opposite senses one beside the other onthe periphery of the respective disks so as to cross each other, the

other end of each strip being fixed to said frame, said frame beingadapted to move said stencil along said rails forwardly and backwardlyin a plane tangential to the periphery of said cylinder, said stencilbeing adapted to rollingly engage said cylinder along a line of Contact,a stationary doctor adapted to hold said stencil against said cylinderat said line of contact, and guide means for guiding said material tosaid cylinder to be printed thereon, said guide means comprising tensionmeans operatively disconnected from said cylinder and stencil andadapted to exercise tension on said material independently of the motionof the cylinder to hold said material by friction contact on saidcylinder.

7. A machine as set forth in claim 6, in which said carrying framecomprises end members to which said llexible strips are aflxed.

8. A machine as set forth in claim 6, in which said tension-resistantexible strips are of steel.

9. A screen printing machine for printing repeat patterns on webs offlexible textile material, comprising, in combination, a rotatablymounted cylinder, a plane printing stencil, a track for said printingstencil, said printing stencil being movable along said track forwardlyand backwardly in a plane which is tangential to the periphery of saidcylinder, and being adapted to rollingly engage the cylinder along aline of contact, a stationary doctor adapted to hold said stencilagainst said cylinder at said line of contact, transmitting meanspositively connected to said stencil, disengageable coupling meanspositively coupling the cylinder to said transmitting means to transmitthe reciprocating motion of said stencil through the intermediary ofsaid transmitting means to said cylinder, a supply roll for material tobe printed, a winding roll for material printed, and a set of threeguide rollers for guiding material from said supply roll to saidcylinder to be printed thereon, said guide rollers comprising a movableintermediate tension roller, and a spring connected to said tensionroller and adapted to form a loop of material to be printed which islaid around said guide rollers including said tension roller and theperiphery of said cylinder, said spring being operatively disconnectedfrom said cylinder to maintain said material under uniform tensionindependently of the motion transmitted to said cylinder from saidstencil through the intermediary of said transmitting and couplingmeans.

10. A screen printing machine for printing repeat patterns on webs ofilexiblc textile material, comprising, in combination, a rotatablymounted cylinder, a plane printing stencil, a track for said printingstencil, said printing stencil being movable along said track forwardlyand backwardly in a plane which is tangential to the periphery of saidcylinder, and being adapted to rollingly engage the cylinder along aline of contact, a stationary doctor adapted to hold said stencilagainst said cylinder at` said line of contact, transmitting meanspositively connected to said stencil, disengagcable coupling meanspositively coupling the cylinder to said transmitting means to transmitthe reciprocating motion of said stencil through the intermediary ofsaid transmitting means to said cylinder, a Winding roll for materialprinted, means for exercising tension on material laid around saidcylinder to be printed thereon, and guide means for guiding printedmaterial from said cylinder to said winding roll, said guide meanscomprising a rod assembly having a toggle joint and being pivotallysuspended at one end, and a set of guide rollers mounted on said rodassembly, one roller of: said set, being mounted at the other end ofsaid rod assembly and connected to said transmitting means fortransmitting motion from said transmitting means to said rod assembly.

l 1. A screen printing machine for printing multicolored repeatpatternsV on webs of exible textile material, comprising, incombination, a rotatably mounted cylinder, a track, a vertically movableprinting stencil magazine arranged at one end of said track, a pluralityof plane printing stencils receivable in said magazine, a carrying framehaving one of said printing stencils positively connected thereto andmovable along said track from said magazine over said cylinder and backto the magazine, transmitting means positively connected to said frame,disengageable coupling means positively coupling the cylinder to saidtransmitting means to transmit the reciprocatingV motion of said framethrough the intermediary of said transmitting means to said cylinder,and guide means for guiding said material to said cylinder to be printedthereon, said guide means comprising tension means operativelydisconnected from said cylinder and stencil and adapted to constantlyexercise tension on said material independently' of the motion of thecylinder to hold said material in friction Contact on said cylinder,said frame being adapted to move said stencil forwardly and backwardlyalong said track in a plane tangential to the periphery of saidcylinder, to etect in one operation and in the same plane theintroduction and removal of a printing stencil and the printing ofmaterial laid around the periphery of the cylinder.

12. A screen printing machine for printing repeat pati? terns ofdefinite length on webs of flexible textile material, comprising, incombination, a rotatably mounted cylinder the circumference of which isan integral multiple of' the repeat length, a plane printing stencil,transmitting means positively connected to said stencil, two diskscoaxial with said cylinder and rotatably mounted relative thereto atmutually opposite end faces of the cylinder, coupling means, saidcylinder being conformed to detachably receive and positively interlockwith said coupling means selectively at any of several points spacedfrom cach other by a pitch angle proportional to a repeat length, saiddisks being conformed to receive and positively interlock with saidcoupling means, said coupling means when thus received byv said disksand by said cylinder being adapted to couple said disks to said cylindermeans for guiding said material to said cylinder to be printed thereon,said guide means comprising tension means operatively disconnected fromsaid cylinder and stencil and adapted to constantly exercise tension onsaid material independently of the motion of the cylinder to hold saidmaterial in friction contact on said cylinder, second guide means forguiding material from said cylinder, and a heater element arrangedlaterally of and partially encircling the periphery of said cylinder onthe side thereof which lies between said line of contact and said secondguide means in the direction of movement of said material ou saidcylinder, for drying printed material 'loved adjacent to said heaterelement by a turning of said cylinder through said pitch angle aftersaid coupling means have been detached therefrom.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS537,923 Hildyard Apr. 23, 1895 590,604 Wood Sept. 28, 1897 1,687,080Beck Oct. 9, 1928 1,815,504 Gorner July 21, 1931 1,930,153 Smith et alOct. 10, 1933 2,060,385 Shurley Nov. 10, 1936 2,206,176 Foard July 2,1940 2,340,643 Campbell Feb. 1, 1944 tively in any of several angularpositions, first guide-

